Tom Harris, also known as The Hill Country Gardener, is a Master Gardener certified by the State of Texas, a Master Pruner certified by the San Antonio Botanical Garden, and a founder and volunteer for the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST).

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Summer Cleanup

First, let me apologize for not sending an article for the past couple weeks. I’ve been having lots of health problems and been in and out of the hospital. I’m getting better, actually.

Summer Cleanup

It’s getting to be that time when our gardening efforts start to look a little wane. Stuff starts to die back due to either the heat, lack of water (or too much water) or fertilizer, or just because the plants have done their thing and it’s time to die. Whatever. It’s starting to look a little ratty and needs to be taken care of soon.
The veggies have stopped producing. Sure were good while they lasted, but now it’s time to start getting the old, non-producing stuff out to make way for fall gardening. If the tomatoes are producing only little-bitty tomatoes with tough skins, pull the plants out. If the beans have quit producing, pull them out. If your peppers have been producing and aren’t all dried up, leave them in and, if they survive the rest of the summer, they’ll produce again next fall (but that may be more trouble than it’s worth.) Prune them back a little if you leave them. If you had corn, it’s probably ready for the compost pile, too. The vines have usually quit producing—pull them out. The onions and garlic should be out by now. Weren’t those onions sweet?

Most of the plants that we consider annuals and planted in the spring have finished their flowering and fruiting for the year and, basically, their life cycle is just about over. They may still offer a small flower or fruit periodically, but basically, they’re done. I know it’s hard to pull out a plant that is still producing a little, but, it’s usually not worth the effort, time, and money to keep them alive.

Perennials, on the other hand, are still very much alive even though they may have stopped flowering. Sometimes you can “deadhead” (remove spent flowers) perennials and they’ll bloom again…crape myrtle, salvia gregii, and vitex, for example.

If you had blackberries, prune back to the ground the old shoots that produced the berries this year. They’ll not produce next year. You should have new shoots coming out. Pinch out the tips of each new stem to encourage branching. It’ll help keep the plants smaller and more compact.

Take all this plant material that you’ve pulled out and put it in the compost pile. If you have a shredder, shred it first. What you’ll be doing is recycling some of the blood, sweat, tears, and money that you put into those plants last spring.

Once the beds are cleaned out, put some of that compost you’ve been making in them and till it in. Water the beds really good.

July—the Challenge to Gardeners

Alrighty, then. July the 4th has come and gone—the last holiday of the summer. At least it wasn’t hotter’n blazes. The rains have been a welcomed change, haven’t they? Sure makes the grass grow.

July is a true challenge for many gardeners. It’s usually hot and dry and most of us don’t feel like going out and sweating our behinds off for gardens and plants that don’t respond all that well right now.

Oh, ye of little faith.

There’s always garden maintenance. Always.

Lawns this time of year are really growing fast (especially with all the recent rains.) This means frequent mowing. The best lawns are those that are mowed regularly because it allows the clippings to fall on the lawn and decompose quickly. This is nature’s recycling process. As always, be sure that your lawnmower is sharp and in good running condition.

If you and your neighbors are getting tired of squash and cucumbers, go ahead and pull them up. Add this stuff to the compost pile. If you think any of the plants are good enough to carry through to the fall, cut them back a little to encourage new growth. In those areas where you’ve pulled up all the stuff, add 2-3 inches of compost and till or work it in as deeply as you can to get ready for fall planting.
Remember that fall tomatoes go in the ground about July 25-August 1, so if you can find some now in the nurseries, pot them up and get them started before putting them in the ground.

Send your comments and/or questions to gardener@gvtc.com or see the website at www.thehillcountrygardener.com.